7+ Strong Reasons Why Your Bedroom Smell Bad in the Morning

If you sleep with your windows closed, the chances are that you’ll wake up to a stuffy room with a musty smell, with several things causing foul odors.

Usually, the foul smell in bedrooms in the morning is due to body odor from sweating at night, bad breath, and dirty pillowcases and sheets. The air remains stagnant in a poorly ventilated room; thus, a foul smell is retained in the room.

This situation mostly occurs in smaller bedrooms where there is poor air circulation. This post will go through the reasons behind the foul smell in the bedroom and the solution.

7+ Strong Reasons Why Your Bedroom Smell Bad in the Morning

1. Body Odor

At night, our bodies perform regulatory functions that help them go back to normality—additionally, our bodies repair damaged skin naturally when we’re sleeping. After this process, dead skin cells are leftover. The body secretes natural oils and sweat for temperature regulation purposes.

Body odor is produced during body temperature regulation through sweat production, body odor is produced—this is the byproduct of sweat over an extended period. Since we are asleep for 6-8 hours, we can do nothing about the body odor.

If you don’t change your beddings frequently, there will be a build-up of a musty smell in your bedroom. The constant build-up of sweat and bacteria releases a foul smell, so it’s advisable to clean your room regularly.

2. Dirty Bedding

While asleep, our bodies produce sweat in high volumes, especially during the summer when the temperature is high. This even gets worse when you lack air conditioning, and you’re covered up in a blanket.

These body secretions get onto our bedsheets, causing dirt to pile up on the beddings. You should clean your bedsheets frequently to get rid of bad odor and foul smell in your bedroom.

There is no standard number of times to wash your beddings, but you should ensure that you change bedsheets weekly or after two weeks. You can even use fresh beddings daily if you wish.

Another catch-all for dead skin, sweat, and oils are our pillowcases. You must clean your pillowcases alongside your bedsheets to keep your room free of musty smell.

Besides the pillowcases and bedsheets, another source of foul smell is our mattresses—they also retain sweat and oils. It’s almost impractical to throw away a bed, especially if it’s good quality; washing a bed can also be hard.

Let’s take a case where you’ve used your mattress for over six years that means that the bed has accumulated sweat and oils for all those years. This worsens if two people share a bed as there will be double amounts of oils, sweat, and dead skin absorbed in the mattress.

3. Dirty Clothes Spread on the Floor

The chances are that most people stack their dirty clothes on the floor or in a specific place in the bedroom. These dirty clothes are soaked with sweat and oils; thus, they may contribute to the musty smell in your bedroom.

To avoid the build-up of foul smell in your room, you should wash your dirty clothes frequently. Your bedroom can be more stuffy, especially if you sleep with closed doors and windows. You should take out your work clothes from your bedroom after work to avoid the foul smells accumulating.

4. Having Pets in the Bedroom

Another reason for the foul smell in your bedroom is having pets around. Pets like dogs and cats might go to the bathroom in your bedroom, thus causing a bad odor. To eliminate this musty smell, you should trace and clean it immediately.

If you don’t clean the urine, there will be a build-up of the foul smell that will be hard to eliminate, especially if your windows and doors are closed. Before allowing your pets to sleep in your bed, keep in mind that the cat or dog may be dirty as they roll around in mud, dirt, or poop throughout the day.

These pets carry the dirt along into your bed. It is prudent to let the cat or dog sleep on the floor or elsewhere while you rest and recover after your day’s work.

5. Bad Breath

Smaller bedrooms accumulate a musty smell more than bigger rooms. If your bedroom is small, the CO2 you breathe out will accumulate in your bedroom, thus causing stuffiness. The build-up of foul smell is intensified when you close your doors and windows consistently.

When sleeping, we produce filthy breath that’s not pleasant to smell—this is natural. When this foul smell is circulated in your bedroom, it accumulates overnight and gets trapped until morning when you open your door, and it’s released into the hallway.

For proper circulation, open your doors and windows to let out this musty smell.

6. Mold Growing in Your Bedroom

Mold and mildew thrive in moist places, so if you spill drinks in your bedroom, the chances are that mold may grow behind your walls and produce a bad smell. You should frequently check dark places in your room to confirm if molds are growing.

Breeding grounds for molds and mildew in your bedroom are behind walls and closets. Leaking pipes can provide a moist environment for the growth of molds. You should always check out molds and eradicate them to prevent the accumulation of a musty smell.

7. Filthy Carpet

If you clean your sheets regularly, the next item on your list should be your carpet. If you don’t have a carpet, skip to the next section.

Over time, carpets usually pick up bacteria, dust, and dirt in the environment and accumulate them. Even if you clean your carpet regularly, there are still high chances that it is dirty. This is because as you vacuum, you might miss some spots, especially under the bed. The resultant effect is a foul odor emanating from your bedroom. 

To get rid of the musty smell, change your carpet every 6 to 8 years.

8. Drink and Food Spills on the Floor

Leftover foods and drinks might be the reason why there is a musty smell in your room. Crumbs and drink spills can accumulate, leading to foul odors when you eat in your room.

Check your mattress and under your bed to see if there are any food or drink spills to get rid of the odor.  Even the smallest of crumbs accumulate and give off a foul smell. We propose that you never eat in your bedroom but if you must, have a small desk designated for eating.

Clever Ways To Get Rid of Smell From Your Bedroom

1. Use a Fabric Softener

Establish a routine for cleaning your linen and stick to it. During your cleaning session, add some fabric softener, and to make your linen smell extra fresh, use a dryer sheet while your sheets are in the dryer.

Is there a better feeling than sleeping on freshly cleaned sheets? Throughout the week, you can spray your sheets with fabric refresher to keep them fresh.

2. Find an Air Purifier

Using an air purifier is also a great option if you want to keep the air in your bedroom smelling fresh. The added advantage is that an air purifier also improves the air quality in your room. Air purifiers come in a variety of shapes and sizes, with the filtration levels being different.

The price change of air purifiers also varies, meaning you can easily find something that suits your needs and preferences. If you have allergies or pets, air purifiers are a must-have. To maintain your purifier, change the filter regularly. 

3. Use a Diffuser

Diffusers keep your room smelling nice by releasing essential oils. Essential oil diffusers are ideal for people who prefer natural scents or those sensitive to artificial scents.

An advantage of diffusers is that there are plenty of essential oils to choose from, and you can blend them to get a scent that can help you relax. In the morning, you can choose to kick start your day by beginning your day with a blend that is energizing.

4. Open the Windows

Depending on the weather, open your window in the morning or leave it open at night to allow fresh air to circulate in your room.

You can also leave your bedroom door open during the day, as closing the door at night might cause a musty smell since there is no air circulation. Opening the door and windows in the morning is a great way to ensure that fresh air flows into your room.

5. Adjust Your Room Temperature

The temperature in your room could be what is causing you to sweat all night long. Our bodies regulate our temperature throughout the night.

Try lowering the temperature if you sweat a lot at night or raising the temperature if you sleep with too many blankets. We recommend adjusting the temperature to cool settings for a better night’s sleep and using fewer blankets as we tend to sweat a lot while asleep.

Frequently Asked Questions